Photo from inside a Cape Air flight from Saranac Lake to Boston by Josh Baker ’28.
Northwood has a large number of international students who take flights back and forth between the school and their homes. For these students, their journey starts or ends at one of the smallest airports they have experienced. Adirondack Regional Airport, near Saranac Lake, is small but important, as it offers flights to New York and Boston.
Cape Air operates the airport, which offers daily flights to Boston Logan International Airport and New York City’s JFK Airport. This allows students to travel conveniently during breaks, long weekends, or random trips. The Boston route runs twice a day, while the flight to New York happens once a day.
What makes the airport so unique is how different it is from the airports most students at Northwood have experienced. Most Northwood students fly from major airports with long security lines and crowded terminals. However, Adirondack Regional Airport makes travel quick and efficient. Students can arrive less than an hour before their flight and still comfortably make their flight.
The airport also has a nice cafe which serves delicious food. This cafe makes the airport feel like a community. This relates to Northwood as a community, being something special about it.
Recently, I took one of the flights from Saranac Lake to Boston. The experience was quite different from what I expected. There was only one pilot on board; the staff weighed all the bags, and we sat in specific spots to balance the aircraft.
I sat right behind the copilot’s seat, giving me a clear view of the cockpit. Throughout the plane ride, I could watch everything the pilot was doing. The whole flight was turbulent, and it felt like the plane was constantly shifting because of the wind. We landed safely as expected, but this was the scariest flight I’ve taken. The upside was that I got to see a beautiful view of the Adirondack Mountains and Boston.
